CATL fine-tune their performance

Toronto duo catl puts traditional rockin’ roles out to pasture

by Christine Leonard

19 November 2016

A big city duo with an eye for the wide-open countryside, catl is a breed apart when it comes to your typical stomp and holler outfits. Recently returned from a run of U.S. tour dates that saw them shaking the BBQ shacks and juke joints en route to the Deep Blues Festival in Mississippi, this punk raucous couple’s take on musical hybridization offers a vigourous alternative to bovine domesticity.

“I think we play pretty straight-up rock and roll, but we can get kinda lumped into more sometimes punk rock, rockabilly, or the blues, or any number of things,” says catl’s drummer/vocalist Sarah Kirkpatrick of the band’s chameleon charms. “When it comes down to it, it’s just such a simplistic musical style, just drums and guitar, so people take what they want from it. Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is have a good time, and we want our audience to have a good time and feel the energy of what we’re doing.”

As the other half of catl’s no bull equation, singer/guitarist Jamie Fleming pens tunes about frustration and betrayal, but also about letting your hair down and drumming up some unbridled joy. Previously a two-piece and then a trio, moving catl forward as a romantically-connected duo was a bold move that came after some considerable rumination. The decision to hand the drumsticks to Kirkpatrick marked the outfit’s rebirth and, having found their running legs, they haven’t looked back since.

“Learning to play the drums was a big growth arc,” says Kirkpatrick. “I originally played the keyboards in this band when I joined in 2009. Jamie and I made a conscious choice, esthetically and energetically, we both wanted to stand up at the front of the stage and make this kind of presence with the two of us. Now I just play a floor tom and a snare. It’s really stripped-down. So, the challenge becomes how many things can you do with just two drums?”

Embracing the opportunity to refurbish their gritty cowpunk repertoire, the inventive pair has prepared some specialty catl cuts for the 2016 installment of Femme Wave: Calgary’s Feminist Music & Arts Festival.

“Since we were last in Calgary, we released our last album, This Shakin’ House, which features a song we wrote about our last experience in Calgary when we were invited to play Sled Island, but only got to do one of our shows because of the flood. We don’t play it live very much at all, so we’ll bring that song back, especially for Femme Wave. We’re really excited to be a part of it and flattered to be one of the headlining bands.”

catl plays Femme Wave on November 19th at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion (Downstairs).